Position : Centre half
Played : 1991-92 ; 1992-93 to 1993-94 (initially on loan from Motherwell)
Appearances : (first spell) 13; (second spell) 33
Goals : (first spell) 0 : (second spell) 2
Alex was the other new centre half, signed that summer from Carlisle for something like £20,000. He began his career at Oldham making 8 appearances over 3 seasons (plus 3 on loan to Stockport) but was released after failing to appear at all in 1985-86. By contrast the following season at Preston he was ever-present in their promotion side. He won their Young Player of the Season award (as Alex was 23 they were pushing it a bit but I suppose with Frank Worthington and Les Chapman in the squad he did qualify) and a reputation as a big centre back who could play a bit of football as well. He found life in the Third Division a bit harder and in 1989 moved on to Carlisle for whom he made 62 appearances scoring 4 goals.
Alex started the season alongside Alan Reeves and Tony Brown in a 5 man defence and looked fine but after a dozen or so games Sutton scrapped the formation and Alex was the one who was dropped . Alex was very unhappy about this and was soon sold on to Motherwell. Eight months later he came back on loan following injuries to Tony Brown and Paul Butler and soon signed permanently again describing his time in Scotland as a "nightmare". However when Butler was fit again he faced the same problem that he was third choice and though he never let us down when he played he just wasn't as good as the other two. He is perhaps best remembered for his retaliatory assault on Burnley's John Francis in the FA Cup in December 1993 which earned him a no-brainer red card and sparked a brawl on the pitch. That was one of his last games as in the new year he was swapped for Halifax's Jason Peake and went to the club where his dad George had once been manager. He later played for Lancaster City.
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